The Best Years Of Our Lives, a score that is discussed and analyzed in the great majority of classes on scoring for film; it won a deserved Academy Award in 1946.
Scoring of the Dramatic Picture Oscar statuette awarded to Hugo Friedhofer for the 1946 THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES. Friedhofer, who was nominated in the music scoring category nine times, received the award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on 13 March 1950 at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. The movie won six other Oscars. Continuing an Academy trend through the late 1940s of honoring films about contemporary social issues, THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES, a film about returning WWII soldiers, won “Best Motion Picture”. The story of servicemen getting their lives back together after the war was a box office success, becoming the highest grossing film in both the United States and UK since the release of GONE WITH THE WIND. An engraved plaque on the pedestal reads, “Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences First Award 1946 to Hugo Friedhofer for Scoring of the Dramatic Picture THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES.” The figure and film reel, composed of gold-plated britannium and measuring 10.25″ tall, top the pedestal, bringing the total height to 13.25″. The pedestal’s diameter measures 5″. The award weighs 6 pounds.
